/*
 * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Knowings
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3
 * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *

 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
 */
package com.knowings.tbs.operation;

import com.knowings.tbs.persistence.IPersistentDescriptor;

/**
 * Convenience interface specifying the methods of an IOperation description container.
 * It enables access to some properties of an IOperation object like UID, owner, name, language 
 * and the kind of operation (transformation, tbsQuery or traceQuery). 
 * 
 * @author privarola
 */
public interface IOperationDescriptor extends IPersistentDescriptor {

  /**
   * Method returning the language property of the described operation.
   * @return a String object representing the language. It shouldn't be null or empty.
   */
  public String getLanguage();

  /**
   * Method returning the kind of operation among <code>OperationKind.TRANSFORMATION</code>,
   * <code>OperationKind.TBS_QUERY</code> or <code>OperationKind.TRACE_QUERY</code>.
   * @return an OperationKind enum value. It shouldn't be null.
   */
  public OperationKind getKind();

  /**
   * Boolean indicator to tell if this operation is monotonous, and thus can be executed
   * in an incremental way.
   * @return true if this operation should be considered as monotonous.
   */
  public boolean isMonotonous();

}
